EPA's court follies sow doubt, delay

Scrubber projects are major endeavors, consisting of sophisticated new buildings, enormous filters, and state-of-the-art smokestacks. They take years to design and construct, and trigger a shift to cheaper coal, which is purchased well in advance. So when EPA put out the CAIR rule in 2005, power companies had to make a significant business decision: Start building scrubbers or wait to see what the courts would do.

Murphy said PPL decided to build immediately because if it didn't and the courts had upheld CAIR, the company would have been forced to buy expensive allowances on the trading market to comply with the rule.

"When we looked at it, by 2010, we figured we would be able to be ahead environmentally and have allowances that were tradeable," Murphy said.

Now, in the wake of the CAIR ruling, PPL also faces competition from power plants that have not yet built scrubbers.

Shortly after the CAIR ruling, PPL and other companies - as well as states and environmental advocates - asked Congress for a quick fix, one that would temporarily reinstate the CAIR rule by law.

But in an election year, Democrats and Republicans couldn't come to a fast agreement, and a proposed bill didn't even get introduced.

Lame-duck battles

Bush may be a lame duck, but the EPA court and regulatory battles continue, even in the final weeks of his presidency.

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court heard an appeal on a new EPA rule related to fish-kills near power plants. A lower court, ruling for the environmental group Riverkeeper, had struck down the EPA's methods because they employed cost-benefit analysis. In that case, the EPA joined a power company's appeal.

The EPA also issued two new rules last week.

First, the agency proposed new air pollution standards for medical waste incinerators, pleasantly surprising environmentalists.

"It's great news that has us scratching our heads," said Pew, the Earthjustice lawyer. "It's an encouraging sign that EPA can do the right thing, if it wants."

But then the EPA made another announcement. The EPA and the White House made it easier for mountain-top strip-mining operations, including coal suppliers, to dump debris into streams and rivers.

Environmental groups said they plan to take the EPA to court.

Contact staff writer John Shiffman at 202-350-9314 or jshiffman@phillynews.com.